History isn’t just about memorising dates and names—it’s about understanding events, making connections, and writing brilliant exam answers. That’s why we’ve created our AQA GCSE History 2025 Predicted Papers to help you feel confident and prepared!

🔎 How We Made Our Predictions

Our predicted papers are based on detailed analysis of past trends, question patterns, and examiner reports. While we can’t guarantee what will come up, we’ve used every bit of insight available to make the best possible predictions—so you can focus your revision where it matters most.

📚 What’s Included in Our Predicted Papers?

✅ Exam-style questions covering key topics
✅ Exam-style mark schemes showing how to structure your answers
✅ FREE video walkthroughs led by experienced teachers, showing you exactly what examiners look for
✅ Timed practice opportunities to help you get used to real exam conditions

🎥 NEW for 2025 – Free Video Walkthroughs!

This year, we’re including free video walkthroughs with every predicted paper! These videos:
🎯 Break down the questions so you know how to interpret them
📝 Show you how to plan and structure your answers
📖 Teach you how to include key historical evidence
🎓 Help you gain those all-important marks!

📖 Why Use Predicted Papers for Your Revision?

Practising with realistic exam questions is one of the best ways to revise. Our predicted papers help you:
✅ Understand what different types of questions look like
✅ Practise writing under timed conditions
✅ Learn how examiners award marks so you can maximise your score
✅ Identify gaps in your knowledge before the real exam

💙 Take Care of Yourself!

Exams are stressful, but remember—you are more than your grades. Take breaks, stay hydrated, and be kind to yourself. Every bit of effort you put in now is a step closer to success. You’ve got this! 💪✨

Which options are you doing?

• Germany, 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship | 2 …

• America, 1920-1973: Opportunity and Inequality | 2 …

• Conflict and Tension: The Inter-War Years, 1918-39 …

• Conflict and Tension Between East and West, 1945-7 …

Germany, 1890-1945: Democracy and Dictatorship | 2025 Predicted Topics and Revision Guide | AQA GCSE History

Here are our 2025 predictions for AQA GCSE History (Option AB: Germany, 1890-1945)! 📖✨ We’ve analysed past exam trends to highlight key topics you should focus on—but remember to revise everything to be fully prepared! 💪📚

👩‍👩‍👧 Life for Women in Nazi Germany

✅ The Nazi Ideal Woman

• Encouraged to be homemakers and mothers rather than workers

• Expected to follow the Three Ks: Kinder (Children), Küche (Kitchen), Kirche (Church)
  ✅ Policies Affecting Women

• Law for the Encouragement of Marriage (1933): Loans to newlyweds, reduced if they had children

• Mother’s Cross: Awards for having many children (Gold for 8 or more!)

• Lebensborn Programme: Encouraged women to have children with SS officers
  ✅ Work and Education

• Women were discouraged from working (except in wartime)

• Banned from becoming judges or civil servants in 1936

• Girls' education focused on domestic skills rather than careers
  ✅ Contradictions in Policy

• War effort (1939 onwards) meant more women had to work despite Nazi ideals

⚠️ Problems Facing the Nazi Party (1923-29)

✅ The Munich Putsch (1923)

• Hitler attempted to seize power in Bavaria but failed

• Short-term failure: Hitler was arrested, NSDAP banned

• Long-term success: Gave Hitler publicity, led him to change tactics
  ✅ Economic & Political Challenges

• Hyperinflation (1923): Ruined savings, people lost trust in Weimar government

• Dawes Plan (1924): Stabilised economy but made Germany reliant on US loans

• The 'Golden Years' (1924-29): Under Stresemann, economy recovered, but Nazis struggled to gain support
  ✅ How Did the Nazis Respond?

• Hitler wrote Mein Kampf while in prison, outlining Nazi beliefs

• The Nazis shifted to winning power through elections rather than violence

🇩🇪 Life in Germany Under Kaiser Wilhelm II

✅ Kaiser Wilhelm’s Rule

• Wanted Weltpolitik (world policy) to make Germany a global power

• Focused on military expansion (particularly the navy)
  ✅ Social & Economic Changes

• Industrial growth: Germany became a world leader in steel and chemicals

• Rise of socialism: Many workers joined trade unions, demanding better rights

• Tension between elites and working class due to poor working conditions
  ✅ Germany’s Political System

• Reichstag (Parliament) existed but had limited power

• The Kaiser controlled the military and foreign policy

⚡ Methods Used to Establish a Dictatorship (1933-34)

✅ The Reichstag Fire (Feb 1933)

• Dutch communist van der Lubbe blamed → Used as an excuse to crack down on communists

• Reichstag Fire Decree: Suspended freedoms, allowed arrests without trial
  ✅ March 1933 Election & the Enabling Act

• Nazis won 44% of votes but needed more power

• The Enabling Act (March 1933): Gave Hitler full control for four years, ending democracy
  ✅ Night of the Long Knives (June 1934)

• Hitler ordered the murder of SA leaders (including Röhm) to eliminate threats

• Gained support from the army and conservative elites
  ✅ Death of Hindenburg (Aug 1934)

• Hitler combined the roles of Chancellor and President, becoming Führer

• Army swore an oath of loyalty to Hitler, securing his total control

💙 Take Care of Yourself!

Exams can feel overwhelming, but remember—you are more than your grades. Take breaks, stay hydrated, and believe in yourself. Every bit of effort you put in now is a step closer to success. You’ve got this! 💪✨

America, 1920-1973: Opportunity and Inequality | 2025 Predicted Topics and Revision Guide | AQA GCSE History

Here are our 2025 predictions for AQA GCSE History (Option AD: America, 1920-1973: Opportunity and Inequality)! 📖✨ These topics are based on past trends, but remember to revise everything to be fully prepared! 💪📚

🇺🇸 Interpretations of President Kennedy

✅ Why is Kennedy seen so positively?

• Charismatic leader – young, energetic, and well-spoken

• Civil Rights support – introduced new laws (though didn’t pass them himself)

• Handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) – avoided nuclear war

• New Frontier policies – aimed to reduce poverty and improve education
  ✅ Why is Kennedy criticised?

• Slow progress on civil rights – many changes happened after his assassination

• Bay of Pigs invasion (1961) failed – embarrassed the USA in the Cold War

• Vietnam involvement increased under his leadership
  ✅ Different Interpretations of Kennedy:

• Heroic leader – Seen as a visionary who promoted progress

• Overrated politician – Some argue his ideas were better than his actions

• Assassination myth – Some believe his death made him seem greater than he was

📉 Problems Faced by President Roosevelt in Helping America Recover from the Great Depression

✅ Economic Challenges:

• Unemployment at 25% (1933) – millions out of work

• Banks had collapsed – people lost savings, businesses had no loans

• Farming crisis (Dust Bowl) – severe drought hit agriculture
  ✅ Political Opposition:

• Republicans disliked Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ – thought he was making government too powerful

• The Supreme Court declared some New Deal laws unconstitutional

• Radical critics (e.g. Huey Long) – wanted even more government action
  ✅ How Did Roosevelt Respond?

• Fireside chats – Radio speeches to build public trust

• New Deal policies – Created jobs, social security, and bank reforms

• Second New Deal (1935) – More focus on workers' rights and poor communities

✊ The Lives of African-Americans in the 1920s

✅ Racism and Segregation:

• Jim Crow Laws enforced segregation in the South

• Black Americans faced discrimination in jobs, housing, and voting

• Rise of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) – Used violence to spread racist ideas
  ✅ Migration & Culture:

• The Great Migration (1916-1930s) – Many moved North for better jobs & rights

• Harlem Renaissance – Black artists, musicians, and writers gained fame
  ✅ Limited Progress:

• Civil Rights groups (e.g. NAACP) campaigned for equality but had little legal success

• Few changes in law – Racism and segregation continued

🎶 The Impact of Economic, Social, and Cultural Changes on America in the 1950s

✅ Economic Growth:

• Booming economy – More jobs, better wages, growth of the middle class

• Suburbanisation – Many moved to the suburbs (e.g. Levittown housing developments)
  ✅ Consumer Culture:

• More advertising & credit purchases – Rise in buying TVs, cars, and fridges

• Fast food chains & shopping malls became popular
  ✅ Social & Cultural Shifts:

• Rock ‘n’ Roll (e.g. Elvis Presley) – Challenged traditional values

• Teenage culture – Young people had more independence and spending power
  ✅ Ongoing Inequality:

• Women still expected to be housewives despite war-time work in the 1940s

• Racial segregation continued – Civil Rights movement started gaining attention

💙 Take Care of Yourself!

Exams can feel overwhelming, but remember—you are more than your grades. Take breaks, stay hydrated, and believe in yourself. Every bit of effort you put in now is a step closer to success. You’ve got this! 💪✨

Conflict and Tension: The Inter-War Years, 1918-39 | 2025 Predicted Topics and Revision Guide | AQA GCSE History

Here are our 2025 predictions for AQA GCSE History (Option BB: Conflict and Tension: The Inter-War Years, 1918-39)! 📖✨ These topics are based on past trends, but remember to revise everything to be fully prepared! 💪📚

🇺🇸 America’s Absence from the League of Nations

✅ Why didn’t the USA join the League?

• Isolationism – Many Americans wanted to stay out of European conflicts

• Congress rejected the Treaty of Versailles – feared it would drag the USA into future wars

• Economic concerns – USA didn’t want to pay for the League’s expenses
  ✅ Impact on the League of Nations:

• Weakened the League’s authority – it lacked military and financial strength

• Made sanctions less effective – countries could still trade with the USA

• Encouraged aggressors (e.g. Japan & Germany) – no USA to enforce peace

✍️ The Aims of the Peacemakers in 1919

✅ The ‘Big Three’ and Their Goals:

• Woodrow Wilson (USA): Wanted a fair peace, self-determination, and the League of Nations

• David Lloyd George (UK): Wanted to punish Germany but not too harshly to keep trade

• Georges Clemenceau (France): Wanted revenge, high reparations, and Germany to be weakened
  ✅ Conflicts Between the Peacemakers:

• Clemenceau & Wilson clashed – Wilson wanted peace, Clemenceau wanted punishment

• Lloyd George was stuck in the middle – he wanted a strong Germany for trade but had to listen to British voters who demanded harsh treatment
  ✅ Did the Treaty of Versailles Achieve Their Aims?

• France was satisfied with harsh penalties, but Germany rebuilt later

• Wilson’s League of Nations was created, but without the USA

• Lloyd George worried that Germany would seek revenge – which happened in WW2

🇯🇵 The Manchurian Crisis & Its Impact on the League of Nations

✅ What happened in Manchuria?

• 1931: Japan invaded Manchuria (China) after claiming Chinese soldiers sabotaged their railway

• Japan set up a puppet government and renamed the area ‘Manchukuo’
  ✅ How Did the League Respond?

• The League condemned Japan and sent a commission (Lytton Report)

• A year later, the League told Japan to leave Manchuria

• Japan ignored them and left the League in 1933
  ✅ Why Was This a Big Failure for the League?

• The League had no army – couldn’t stop Japan

• Sanctions were pointless – USA (not in the League) kept trading with Japan

• Encouraged other dictators (e.g. Hitler & Mussolini) to break the rules

⚔️ The Causes of the Second World War

✅ The Treaty of Versailles (1919):

• Harsh penalties angered Germany – loss of land, reparations, war guilt

• Hitler used resentment to gain support
  ✅ Hitler’s Foreign Policy:

• Rearmament: Built up Germany’s army, broke the Treaty

• Remilitarisation of the Rhineland (1936): No response from Britain/France

• Anschluss (1938): United Germany & Austria, another Treaty violation

• Sudetenland Crisis (1938): Hitler took land from Czechoslovakia
  ✅ Appeasement:

• Britain & France let Hitler break the Treaty to avoid war

• Munich Agreement (1938): Gave Hitler Sudetenland to keep peace

• Only made Hitler bolder – he saw Britain & France as weak
  ✅ The Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939):

• Hitler and Stalin agreed not to attack each other

• Secretly agreed to split Poland
  ✅ Invasion of Poland (Sept 1939):

• Hitler invaded Poland, breaking promises

• Britain & France declared war on Germany → WW2 began

💙 Take Care of Yourself!

Exams can feel overwhelming, but remember—you are more than your grades. Take breaks, stay hydrated, and believe in yourself. Every bit of effort you put in now is a step closer to success. You’ve got this! 💪✨

Conflict and Tension Between East and West, 1945-72 | 2025 Predicted Topics and Revision Guide | AQA GCSE History

Here are our 2025 predictions for AQA GCSE History (Option BC: Conflict and Tension Between East and West, 1945-72)! 📖✨ These topics are based on past trends, but remember to revise everything to be fully prepared! 💪📚

🇭🇺 The Hungarian Uprising, 1956

✅ Causes of the Uprising:

• Harsh Communist rule under Rakosi – secret police (AVH), censorship, and no political freedom

• Poverty & food shortages – Soviet policies harmed Hungary’s economy

• De-Stalinisation (1953) – Khrushchev’s reforms gave hope that Soviet control might weaken

• Encouraged by US radio broadcasts – Hungarians believed the West would help them

✅ What Happened?

• October 1956: Protests began, and Imre Nagy became leader

• Nagy promised free elections, democracy, and leaving the Warsaw Pact

• November 1956: Khrushchev sent in Soviet tanks to crush the uprising

• Thousands killed, Nagy executed, Kadar installed as leader

✅ Impact of the Uprising:

• Showed that the USSR would not tolerate rebellion in Eastern Europe

• The USA did not intervene, proving it would not directly challenge Soviet control

• Increased Cold War tensions – USSR used force to keep control, and the West condemned it

🕊️ Détente (Relaxation of Tensions in the 1970s)

✅ Why Did the USA and USSR Want Détente?

• Nuclear war fear – The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) showed how dangerous tensions had become

• Economic problems – Both superpowers were spending too much on weapons

• Public pressure – Anti-war protests, especially in the USA (due to Vietnam War)

• China’s rise – The USSR and USA both wanted to improve relations with China

✅ Key Features of Détente:

• Nuclear arms agreements – SALT 1 Treaty (1972) limited missiles

• Trade agreements – USA and USSR improved economic links

• Helsinki Accords (1975) – Agreed human rights but not legally binding

✅ Impact of Détente:

• Reduced tensions but did not end Cold War rivalry

• Some Americans thought it was too soft on communism

• The USSR still controlled Eastern Europe, and the USA still supported anti-communist governments

☢️ The Arms Race & Its Impact on the Cold War (1949-61)

✅ Key Events in the Arms Race:

• 1949: USSR successfully tested its first atomic bomb (ended US nuclear monopoly)

• 1952: USA developed the hydrogen bomb (1000x more powerful than Hiroshima bomb)

• 1953: USSR also developed a hydrogen bomb → Arms race intensified

• 1957: USSR launched Sputnik (first satellite) → USA saw this as a technological threat

• 1960: USA developed U-2 spy planes to monitor Soviet military developments

✅ Impact on the Cold War:

• Both sides built more nuclear weapons → Increased mutual destruction fear

• Nuclear deterrence (MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction) – Neither side wanted to attack first

• Led to space race competition (e.g. Moon landing 1969)

• Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) – The closest the world came to nuclear war

⚡ Causes of Tension Between the USA & USSR (1945-49)

✅ Key Ideological Differences:

• USA = Capitalist & Democratic – Free elections, private businesses, individual rights

• USSR = Communist & Dictatorship – No free elections, state-controlled economy, censorship

✅ Key Events Creating Tension:

• Yalta & Potsdam Conferences (1945):

  • Agreed to divide Germany but disagreed over reparations and elections in Eastern Europe

  • USA & USSR distrusted each other

• Soviet Expansion in Eastern Europe (1945-48):

  • USSR set up Communist governments in Poland, Hungary, Romania, etc.

  • Truman Doctrine (1947): USA promised to contain communism

  • Marshall Plan (1948): USA gave money to rebuild Europe & stop communism

• Berlin Blockade & Airlift (1948-49):

  • Stalin blocked West Berlin’s supplies → USA responded with Berlin Airlift

  • Showed USA’s commitment to opposing Soviet expansion

✅ Impact of These Tensions:

• NATO (1949) was created – A military alliance against the USSR

• USA & USSR no longer trusted each other → Led to Cold War rivalry

💙 Take Care of Yourself!

Exams can feel overwhelming, but remember—you are more than your grades. Take breaks, stay hydrated, and believe in yourself. Every bit of effort you put in now is a step closer to success. You’ve got this! 💪✨

💙 Your Mental Health Matters 💙

Exams are important, but they do not define you. Your hard work, kindness, and resilience mean so much more than any grade ever could. 🌟

It’s okay to feel stressed, but remember to:
🧘‍♂️ Take breaks – your brain needs rest to work at its best!
💤 Get enough sleep – a well-rested mind learns better.
🍏 Eat well & stay hydrated – fuel your body and brain.
💬 Talk to someone – you’re never alone, and support is always there.

Believe in yourself—you are capable, strong, and more than enough! 💪✨ No matter what happens, you are valued and worthy just as you are. 💖